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Comment by mbrookes | Hacker News Reader

> The Ouija board seems highly inappropriate, since I believe jurors are instructed to not use outside research

Outside research? Do you genuinely believe they consulted the spirit world?

At most this this would surface their collective belief in the guilt of the accused. An unconventional means to arrive at a consensus, but no more outside research than each of them writing a verdict on a piece of paper.

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A Ouija board wouldn't constitute outside research, but if they believed in it then it would mean they thought they were conducting outside research, which they were not supposed to do. How do you handle that?

If I consulted what I believed to be a reputable website for information, not being aware that it contained nothing but plausible but randomly generated information, I think I would still be considered to be conducting outside research. I'd imagine that intent here matters.

Intent definitely matters, but I think there has to be the possibility of achieving your goal too. For example, if I cast a spell that's said to make your heart explode, I won't get done for attempted murder even though my intent was to kill you.

Suppose one juror in particular was influencing the Ouija board, and the rest actually believed they were communicating with the supernatural. That one juror now has an outsized impact on the trial, which is a problem.

Clever people taking advantage of dumb people has always been a problem.

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